Google announced the launch of a prepaid card linked to Google Wallet yesterday. The move continues Google Wallet’s move away from contactless payments using near-field communication (NFC) and brings it in line with the Isis mobile wallet, which incorporates the American Express Serve prepaid card. Prospective users of the Google Wallet prepaid card, which is a MasterCard-branded card and allows ATM access to funds, need to be in the US and hold a verified Google Wallet account. Google also announced the release of a holidays reward program for Google Wallet alongside the card announcement. A few restaurant chains and Amtrak were named as participating companies. Google Wallet launched in September 2011 and has been the object of intense media scrutiny ever since. The service has undergone numerous growing pains — launching then shuttering a “virtual prepaid card,” testing then abandoning a Discover card attached to the wallet and moving away from NFC as the facilitator of contactless payments. Mobile bank account Moven, a service that also bet on contactless, was forced to distribute NFC stickers and issue a debit card as well. It seemed the world (or the U.S., anyway) was not ready for contactless payment, nor was Apple. Earlier this year was [...]
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